Pair forms drug-abuse support group in Fitchburg

From left are facilitators Angela Whitney and Betty Berthiaume and Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis.
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FITCHBURG -- Angela Whitney thought drug addiction was something that plagued inner cities -- until it touched her close-knit, suburban Leominster family six years ago.

"I thought heroin addicts were the children of parents who didn't care," she said.

That was until her three sons all became addicted to opiates -- all around the same time, but separately from one another, Whitney said.

Whitney and Lunenburg resident Betty Berthiaume, whose daughter is also in recovery from opiate addiction, have started a Fitchburg chapter of the peer-led support group Learn to Cope.

The group meets every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Worcester County Sheriff's Office at 19 Fairmount Place in Cleghorn.

"Sadly, more and more families today are directly impacted by a loved one who suffers from an opioid addiction," said Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis.

"Having this support group available in the Fitchburg area will provide a much needed resource for families dealing with this difficult issue."

The group has been meeting since the spring, working thus far with two local families whose lives have been rocked by addiction.

"There's so much you don't know when you're first getting into it," Whitney said. "I really feel for the families because they have no idea it's the beginning of a five-, six-, seven-year, maybe a lifelong struggle.

"I think people have to know that they're not alone and that they didn't do anything wrong," she added.

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Her sons, now ages 27, 24 and 21, were all at very different points in their lives, but all had experimented with prescription pain medications, including Percocet and Oxycontin, and had become addicted. They exhibited erratic behavior and suddenly couldn't hold onto money. The two older sons eventually turned to heroin.

Whitney remembers the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks.

"I thought, 'This isn't my world, this is foreign to me,' " she said. "It's a world I never imagined I'd be in."

After a long learning process and plenty of setbacks, Whitney's oldest son has been sober for a year and now works two jobs as a line cook in Portland, Maine. Her middle son is in recovery in a long-term treatment program, and her youngest is still fighting his addiction.

"They're still the wonderful kids they always were," Whitney said.

Berthiaume said her daughter, now 24, admitted four years ago she had a drug addiction. She'd also started out experimenting with prescription opiates, which later turned into a heroin addiction.

Like Whitney's sons, Berthiaume's daughter went to several detoxification programs and relapsed multiple times. It wasn't until her daughter entered a Falmouth treatment center and staff there introduced Berthiaume to another local chapter of Learn to Cope that Berthiaume learned how to change her own behavior to help her daughter.

"She said, 'Mom, when you started going to Learn to Cope is when I started recovering,' " Berthiaume said. "We learn not to enable, how to get through it -- it's amazing."

Today, Berthiaume's daughter has been in recovery for about two years, is finishing up her accounting degree and on Friday gave birth to her first child.

"Truly, she's the person that she was before, and I think she's a much stronger person than I ever was at 24," Berthiaume said. "She wants a good life for her child and herself."

They invited all local families touched by addiction to attend the meetings, and assured no one would pressure them to speak until they're ready. Whitney said she listened for a long time before sharing her story.

"In the beginning, everyone is nervous, ashamed, embarrassed, confused. But after awhile people are pretty open about it, and they want to help others," Berthiaume said. "It's a wonderful group. It's so valuable and lifesaving in so many different ways."

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